A thesis is a statement that can be defended, supported, and disputed. The key element of an academic thesis, the type you’ll be required to write for a grade 12 essay, is that it needs to be tied to the works and sources used in the paper. So a thesis cannot just be your opinion or an argument you strongly believe. An argument is also a statement that will be defended, but the addition of facts, quotes, additional sources, and your own analysis make it into a supported thesis.
Opinion: what you think.
Argument: clearly stating and supporting what you think. Often loudly.
Thesis: assembling multiple supporting points to support and defend your thesis against disputes.
How do you create a thesis?
There are a few basis thesis structures that high school students should be aware of, because they’re easy to use for high school essays.
Every good thesis answers a question. But it should be a question that does not have a readily available answer, and that requires thought to address.
Basic Thesis Structures:
Resolution of conflicting ideas: this is where you find two ideas in the book or topic and find a way to resolve them.
Disagreement: find a quote or idea or concept in the book or topic that is prevalent and key to important themes, then dispute it.
Defense: find something in the book or topic that is under attack or dismissed and defend it.
Engage an expert: find someone who is knowledgeable about the book or topic, and examine their ideas to see how well they work.
Analyze the author and context: why was this created? What about that time made it relevant?
Dispute the question: if you think the essay question, prompt, or topic choice is unfair or biased make a ranty essay about that. These are really fun to write and really risky if your teacher is sensitive or if you basically avoid doing what you’re supposed to do.
Clarification: find something that is unclear and try to clarify it.
In Part 2 we’ll look at how you can use a basic structure to develop a solid theses and paper. The important thing to note here is you want a conflict between two ideas. Two ideas in the book, your idea and someone else’s idea, a stated idea in the book and an unstated idea that is required to accept the book, etc.
Ian Weatherall 